Experts: No longer uncommon for police to be charged for misconduct

NEW HAVEN — The availability of high-quality video evidence — borne from ever-developing advances in camera technology — has made it less uncommon for police officers to be charged for misconduct, experts say.

These advances are largely responsible for the perceived uptick in the number of police officers being charged for misconduct in recent years, according to law and criminal justice experts at three local universities.

Other social and political factors have played a role, such as the public outcry that erupts after a particularly graphic video involving police misconduct is released, putting pressure on prosecutors, many of whom are elected officials, to bring justice, experts said.

But the access to clear-cut evidence — produced either from a body-worn police camera or video captured on a bystander’s cellphone — has emboldened prosecutors who for years have been forced to rely on witness testimony as their basis for pursuing charges, according to the experts. The access to better technology, they said, has triggered a seismic shift in how members of law enforcement are being held accountable for alleged misconduct.

When it comes to prosecutors charging police officers for misconduct, “I am certain that it is more common today than it was perhaps as little as 10 or more years ago,” Quinnipiac law professor William Dunlap said. “I think the primary reason for it is technology. It was almost always the word of a police officer against a defendant, and in many (homicide) cases the victim was dead.

“Now a lot of these incidents take place on camera,” Dunlap added.

In the case of Richard “Randy” Cox, recently released body camera and surveillance video shows him being driven to a New Haven police station June 19 for processing on a weapons charge when the driver braked hard at an intersection to avoid a collision, causing Cox to fly headfirst into a metal partition in the van, according to multiple arrest warrants.

Once Cox had arrived at the facility, some of the officers mocked him and accused him of faking his injuries, according to dialogue captured by the camera footage.

Officers dragged Cox by his feet from the van and placed him in a holding cell prior to his eventual transfer to a hospital, the warrant stated. Cox, who had been handcuffed and unbuckled in the back of the police transport van, was later found to have a fractured neck and was paralyzed, according to the warrant.

The encounter resulted in charges against five New Haven officers: Officer Oscar Diaz, Sgt. Betsy Segui, Officer Ronald Pressley, Officer Jocelyn Lavandier and Officer Luis Rivera.

The charges, announced Monday, include reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons, both misdemeanors.